If you have kids and are considering returning to live in Morocco, schooling is among the questions that need to be figured out. In this post, I’m sharing my experience on this topic, starting with the school search until settling on a ‘final’ school and all that happened in between. Want to learn more about our experience in schooling in Morocco, read on.

Background

Our kids went to school in the USA using English as their learning language. At home, we spoke the native Moroccan language (“Darija”), but it was no match for English. After all, our kids spent all day in school speaking, writing and learning in English. Plus, whenever we go out, English is the predominant language.

Early on, we tried to immerse our kids in different languages: Arabic and a little bit of French. We enrolled them in the weekend Arabic school. There they were learning Arabic, but only a little. In retrospective, it was better than nothing.

Before moving back to Morocco, we needed to figure out what schools our kids would attend.

What schooling options do we have ?

In Morocco Arabic and French are the main languages. English adoption is still in its infancy. This obviously created an issue for us.

Since our kids were at primary school level, we knew it was not late to try integrating them into Morocco schools. It would have been trickier if they were in high schools, for example, and only knew English.

The search

Marrakech was our target destination, so we started, there, searching for schools that would be a good fit. We searched on the web and also asked family members and friends in Morocco. This was going on while we still lived in the USA.

A family member went and met with the director of a reputable school in Marrakech to check what it would take for our kids to join them. The director asked about the kids: level and what school they would be transferred from. After he learned that our kids were coming from America, and knew their ages, he refused to even entertain the idea of evaluating their candidacy. For him, they would be far behind in comparison with the other classroom students that they would “kind of drag” everyone behind. My relative mentioned to him that we were open to tutoring French and Arabic classes. The director did not change their opinion :(.

We repeated the same process with other schools and they refused as well. Few opened the door a little bit, saying that the kids needed to pass acceptance tests for French, Arabic and Mathematics. If the kids dif well on the tests, they would integrate them into their school.

Candidates schools

Knowing our kids lack fluency in Arabic and French, we knew that those tests would not yield a positive outcome.

So we are left with English schools as the only viable option. We looked and found two English-based schools in Marrakech.

The two schools were the American school in Marrakech and Khalil Gibran School. 

American school in Marrakech

The American school system is based on the US education one. Our kids went to US schools, so this seemed like a good fit. They would make the transition without any hiccups. This would be like changing schools in the USA. Same language and same system.

We took a closer look and we found out a few things that made this school not viable for us. First, the school was all in English. This means our kids will not have a chance to eventually transition to a Moroccan school as the language barrier will be there and only grow more as they go further in their education journey. Second, we learned that the high school diploma provided by this school is not recognized by the Moroccan ministry of education. The kids’ only opinion after high school is to study in the USA, England or another English-based school. Last, but not least, the tuition fees were high. In our case it would be around 10000 dh / month per kid. This is not even counting other fees that are in the range of 25000 dh per kid every year.

Khalil Gibran School (KGS)

We learned about KGS through a relative that was involved with the school. He sent us pictures of the school, brochures and gave good praises about it. The school is trilingual (English, Arabic and French). The main language is English and the school follows a United Kingdom curriculum while staying compliant with the Moroccan education system. 

After learning more about this school, we were hooked: English was the main language while using French and Arabic like any other Moroccan school. Also, the tuition fees were reasonable. KGS checked all boxes, so we decided to give it a try.

Our initial experience with KGS

We got the transcripts from the USA school and when I traveled (free travel any one?) to Marrakech, I went to KGS to register my kids. All went well, only a few unexpected events happened:

• Registration fees were high (not high as the American schools’ ones): 6000 dh per student for the first year.
• There was an evaluation test: 1500 dh to evaluate each new student level in Arabic, French and English
• If either one of those language skill levels ended up below expectations, there were immersive language programs. Each one costs 10000 dh per student for the year. 

Those figures started to add up pretty quickly. Still, under the circumstances, KGS seemed like the best option we had. As expected, our kids did need a boost in French and Arabic, so we registered them into the Arabic and French immersion programs.

Our operating plan was to have our kids attend KGS for two years until they caught up with other students’ levels in Arabic and French. After that we can always move them to a different private school that is not English-based.

First year at KGS

Our youngest kid did not like school at all in the beginning. Every morning she would enter and leave school weeping for the first month. Eventually she started to get acquainted with the school and its environment. She made new friends at school, and it helped make the transition smoother. Our older kids seemed to transition Ok, to her new school. There were a few hiccups here and there, but the experience was pretty good.

Second and third years at KGS

After one year of schooling plus Arabic and French immersive language learning, our kids became more at ease with their Arabic and French. We asked their Arabic and French teachers about it and they confirmed our impressions. After all this time, our kids didn’t need those programs any more. They can integrate the regular Arabic and French language classes.

We approached the school administration and they had a different opinion !! :). They made the case that our kids still needed those programs. After a discussion with the school, we agreed to keep our kids in those programs until the end of December, then we would reassess. 

In December we had our kids do Arabic and French evaluation tests and results came back positive. They didn’t need language boosting programs any more. Great news: our kids Arabic and French skills did improve a lot.

After the end of the second year, we decided to stay with KGS for one more year. Our kids had their friends at KGS and they liked the school.

Transition

After three years with KGS, we decided it was time to make the transition to a regular private Moroccan school. We settled on a good reputable school and got our kids registered there. They did an evaluation test and they did passed.

Take away

If you’re considering changing schools between countries, I suggest you try to plan in advance, do your research, and be flexible. Expect a transition period in the beginning. No school is perfect and you need to give up on something to get something else. As long as you’re not sacrificing what is core, for you, the rest will eventually settle overtime. Good luck.

p.s: Please consider subscribing and sharing this blog with your friends and family. It would encourage me to keep writing and sharing what I have learned and continue to learn on my journey in Morocco. Hopefully you get something from it and avoid any pitfalls I might run into. Thank you.